Hamza Hendawi | MSNBC.com
While concern is rising in the U.S. about the war in Afghanistan, the Americans are anxious to show evidence of progress in their other conflict — Iraq.
New Iraqi government figures tell a different story, however, showing civilian casualties hitting their highest level in more than two years — figures the U.S. rushed on Sunday to dispute.
The rejection of the figures, compiled by the Iraqi ministries of defense, interior and health, comes at a delicate time. The American military has pronounced Iraq’s security as stabilizing and is going ahead with plans to send home all but 50,000 troops by the end of the month, leaving Iraq’s nascent security forces in control. The last American soldier is due to leave by the end of 2011.
Things were not much better in July for the Americans in Afghanistan — where U.S. losses were the highest for any month of the war. The monthly death toll — 66 — surpassed the previous record of 60 deaths in June. U.S. commanders have warned of more bloodshed as fighting escalates in longtime Taliban strongholds.
Moreover, at least 270 Afghan civilians were killed in the July fighting and nearly 600 wounded — a 29 percent increase over the previous month, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary.
In Iraq, the July death toll — 532 — was the highest since May 2008 when 563 died, heightening concerns over the country’s precarious security even as a political deadlock persists nearly five months after a parliamentary election produced no clear winner.
The new figures suggested that a resilient insurgency is successfully taking advantage of the political deadlock and shows the difficulties of achieving a political solution in a polarized society like Iraq’s, where ethnic and religious groups compete for power regardless of where national interests lie.
